Palinoia
by DarkScales
Summary: Palinoia: the compulsive repetition of an act, over and over again, until it is performed perfectly. [T for canon-typical violence]


**Author's Note:** Sorry for not posting anything in so long! Lot of stuff's happened over the past year and I'm currently preparing to move across the country in a bit less than a week, so I've been, uh, busy. I'm going to try to finish up my WIPs soon, though, if that's any consolation ^.^'

Anyway, I have a lot of feelings about Shadow Link and I've wanted to try writing a time loop fic for awhile, so here you go! Enjoy!

Warning: Shadow isn't suicidal in this fic, but he does die quite a few times (because time loop) and has a casual disregard for his own wellbeing. At one point, he considers his death acceptable collateral damage if that's what it takes to win, much to the horror of people around him. Please don't read if any of that is triggering for you!

* * *

Shadow let the light take him, let his very essence fade beneath it. For once, it was warm instead of searing, a campfire in the night as the world fell away. His only regret was not being able to help the Links more, knowing that Ganon was still out there, but—

A deep, rolling note, the gong of a clock striking the hour. It reverberated down to his bones, infinite, three voices layered into one echoing all around him.

 _Oh, young Shadow,_ they murmured, _such a fate is not what you have earned._

 _But: you carry our power, warped as it may be, and we can_ use _that._

 _Would you care to try again?_

If Shadow still had breath, it would have stuttered and caught in his chest. Yes, _yes,_ of course he wanted a second chance! With all that had happened, how could he not? He—

That wanting was somehow all it took. Shadow's vision exploded with light as everything _lurched,_ consciousness slamming back full force. His knees hit stone half a beat before his hands followed, gasping for breath as he coughed out spatters of the same black liquid that dripped like ink from his skin. He coughed again, throat scraped raw, lungs drawn tight and gasping.

"Get up."

Every limb turned brittle-cold, a voice that Shadow had hoped to never hear again scraping against his ears. _How?_

Claws scratched against stone, impatient. "Get _up,_ you worthless—"

Snarling, Shadow hauled himself up on unsteady feet by sheer force of will. He didn't have a clue what was going on, how he was somehow alive again or how Ganon had brought him back without the Dark Mirror, but he refused to let himself be controlled any longer. For Ganon to have taken the time to revive him meant the Links were dead or incapacitated, a thought that wrenched sharp in his chest because no no no _they weren't supposed to fail_ —

No time to think. Shadow locked eyes with Ganon, teeth bared, and lunged. A sense of wrongness, recognition that something wasn't right scratched at the back of his mind, but he pushed it away. The only thing that mattered was making Ganon _dead dead dead,_ so he forged a blade of shadows and aimed for a killing blow.

Ganon met him with a curse, an answering snarl, and a meaty hand caught him around the neck. Shadow choked, dangling helpless as his sword dissolved into shards of smoke.

"Arrogant creation!" Ganon roared. "Who are you to defy me? I can unmake you at any time I wish, and you are bound to obey. _Do you understand?_ "

"Go to hell," Shadow sneered, vision whiting out as Ganon's hand _squeezed_

* * *

Reset.

 _That could've gone better,_ the voices whispered, soft as a midnight breeze. _Let's try again, shall we?_

And Shadow's knees hit the floor.

* * *

Time loops, Shadow decided, _sucked._

After that first failed attempt, Shadow played it a bit more safe. He took the time to examine his surroundings instead of going straight for the kill, which was how he realized what that wrongness he'd felt before was. This was the very room Ganon had first summoned him in; he recognized the rough-hewn stonework, the sigils etched across the floor, the pervasive miasma of unfiltered _power_ in the air.

(The Links hadn't failed. They couldn't have, because they didn't even _exist_ yet. Only Link singular, since apparently a second chance meant _time travel._

Aargh. What even.)

This room was where Shadow had come into being, where he'd risen from the twisted amalgamation of the Dark Mirror's power and the raw, untamed wellspring of a Triforce piece. Being in it again made his skin crawl, made him unsettled and disoriented and not quite sure if anything was real. It _felt_ real, the air like ash on his tongue and each breath a chill in his artificial heart, but was it?

Somehow, Shadow forced himself to stick around long enough for Ganon to give out his orders and dismiss him. Shadow had no intention of following those orders, of course, but… well, Ganon didn't know that.

So. The first chance he got, Shadow climbed out the nearest window, aimed north, and flew.

If Shadow remembered right, Ganon hadn't made him call Vaati from the Dark Mirror until after their monster army gathered. Given that Ganon's first command was to familiarize himself with said army, Shadow knew there was still time to prevent Vaati's awakening altogether. He needed to move quickly, though, because while summoning Vaati without him—a being drawn from the Mirror's essence, its magic singing in his blood—was difficult, it wasn't impossible. At best, Ganon would only be delayed a few days.

Glancing up at the sky, Shadow checked the moon's path toward the horizon, wincing when he saw that he didn't have more than a few hours until dawn. He glanced behind him, but the air remained clear, as it had been ever since the Tower shrank out of sight. Still, something felt off, nervous fear prickling down his spine. For some reason, he couldn't quite shake the sense of being followed.

Perhaps he was just being paranoid. Or perhaps—

Wings arrowed down like a stooping hawk, piercing through the clouds that had masked them. Shadow yelped, swore, swerved to dodge massive talons, but found himself still too slow. Lava-fierce eyes narrowed in on him, jaws gaping and Shadow realized, horror surging up in his gut, that he wouldn't survive the coming moments.

The last thing he saw was dragonfire, a supernova in the night-dark sky.

* * *

Reset.

 _No, that's not quite right,_ the voices murmured, steady and strong as the Zora river. _Let us try a different way._

* * *

"Be quiet," Shadow hissed, leaning around the corner. If he had the patrols timed right, guards wouldn't pass by for another five minutes. If Princess Zelda didn't stop yelling, though, they'd come around a lot sooner than that. "Seriously, come on, I'm trying to help here—"

" _Let go of me,_ " the Princess snarled. Shadow barely suppressed a yelp as he yanked his hand back, hissing at reddened flesh while the Princess shook sparks off her fingers. _Damn_ that Triforce piece; damn that Triforce piece to _hell._

The Princess took several quick steps back, well out of grabbing distance. She glared at him, jaw set, as regal and defiant as ever. "What are you doing, Shadow?"

"What does it look like? I'm trying to help you escape, and this is the thanks I get?" Shadow flexed his fingers, wincing at the pull of damaged skin. "Listen, we gotta move before someone finds us. If Ganon or Vaati come back, we're dead meat."

The Princess took another step back. "And why should I trust you?"

Shadow grimaced. "I'm on your side, Princess. You may not like me and that's fine, but we need to work together. The Links are weeks away by foot, so unless you'd rather wait around on top of the Tower, I'm all you've got."

She glared at him. "What, am I supposed to just accept that you've had a change of heart? That this isn't some trick, some cruel joke?"

"No, it's not, I swear by the Goddesses it's not—"

The Tower shook. A furious bellow reverberated through the walls. The Tower's very foundations shuddered as if in fear as the flame of every lit torch flickered. Shadow's teeth rattled down to their roots, and the Princess' gaze snapped up to the ceiling.

"No," Shadow breathed.

 _We're out of time._

* * *

Reset.

 _Again,_ the voices repeated, low and sharp as crackling flames. _There is time enough to try again._

* * *

So. Turned out, Ganon was immune to desert viper venom.

 _Good to know,_ Shadow thought, hysterical laughter boiling up in his chest as Ganon lunged with trident leading. _Immune to literally the most venomous animal I could find, of course he is._ Shadow wouldn't make that mistake next time, if there even was a next time

 _reset_

No voices, now, only stone rough against his palms and Mirror-ink dripping to the floor. Shadow kept his head down for as long as he could, tried to find some way to escape but he got caught. He snuck into the wrong place at the wrong time and this was even worse than before; at least last time it'd been quick

 _reset_

Fine. _Fine._ He'd try again, as many times as it took. He stormed Hyrule Castle but "accidentally" let Zelda escape with the Links' father, hoped they'd flee too far too fast for Ganon to find them. Except, Shadow was punished for it, harsh enough that he was in no shape to do anything when Ganon caught up. Then the Links' father was dead dead dead no this wasn't right either he had to change tactics, he tried surrendering to the Links in their first battle but this time it was Vaati who killed him furious at his betrayal

 _reset_

Sometimes there were voices in that void between time, echoing in the white. Sometimes there weren't, but it rarely made a difference anyway. They never gave advice, after all, only gentle reassurance that he could still try again. That pity grated on him, scraped over his bruise-raw pride, made him want to bare his teeth and _scream_ in frustration.

Why couldn't he _fix_ anything?

* * *

 _reset_

no

 _reset_

no

 _reset_

 _reset_

 _reset_

* * *

"We should follow the river," Green said, tracing a map. At his side, Vio nodded, murmuring something in low tones that Shadow couldn't catch. Seated on a boulder a couple feet away, Blue uncapped a canteen, tipping it up to take a long draw before passing it to Red. Above them all, the noon sun blazed blond hair to gold, and light dazzled bright and blinding off the water that burbled over smooth-worn stones.

Shadow had chosen this time of day specifically to be at his most vulnerable, because even if it set his teeth on edge, it would hopefully set the Links at ease. Neither Ganon nor Vaati would miss him, either; he usually slept this time of day, tucked into a makeshift nest among the rafters of the Tower. He didn't usually emerge until moonrise, giving him enough time to sneak out, tell the Links what he knew, and return before anyone noticed his absence.

Materializing into a solid form, Shadow kept his back pressed up against the tree, just within the thin shade it provided. The Links hadn't noticed him yet, but _—_

Vio's eyes flicked up, went wide. Shadow watched his body language snap around, guarded and ready. The other Links followed Vio's movement, Green a half-beat behind while Blue and Red took a bit longer for their distance.

 _Ah,_ Shadow thought, hands held carefully loose and open. _Let the show begin._

In moments, Vio had his bow in hand and an arrow drawn back, aimed between Shadow's eyes. "Shadow," he called. "What are you doing here?"

Shadow didn't move, though he kept a wary eye on the arrowhead glinting in the sun. "I just want to talk," he replied, fighting to keep his body language calm. "Not here to fight."

Blue scowled, sword unsheathed and gleaming with magical light. "You really think we'll believe that?"

"Think what you want, but it's the truth." Tree branches swayed, sunlight stretching long, and Shadow went tense as it nearly kissed his boots. "I don't have much time, so I need y'all to listen close. There's someone bigger pulling Vaati's strings, a monster named Ganon who bears the Triforce of Power. Vaati's doing his dirty work, but he's the one who's really behind everything. You'll need to beat Vaati first to draw him out, though."

Green frowned, stepping forward. "What proof do you have that you're telling the truth?"

Shadow bit back an impatient growl. "I swear to you," he told them, pushing as much sincerity into his voice as he could manage, " _I am not lying._ This is _important,_ y'hear? Vaati has a weakness _—_ there's something called the Dark Mirror on the top floor of his tower, 'bout a head taller than us, black glass and a stupid-ornate frame. Its guard rotates twice a day or so, but other than that, there aren't any traps. That's the source of Vaati's resurrected life; if you smash it, he's dead." A breath, a heartbeat. "You need to smash it as soon as possible."

Shadow pinned them all with a hard stare, pausing to make sure that sank in. At the very least, he knew Vio would take him seriously, if only because Vio was the sort of person who kept himself open to all possibilities. Maybe Red, too, because Red always wanted to see the good in people…

Vio lowered his bow, kept the arrow drawn but aimed it at the ground. "How do you know?"

Shadow bared his teeth in a mockery of a grin. "Because," he replied, "that's the source of my life, too. And I can tell you all about it."

* * *

Shadow returned to Vaati's tower right as the horizon swallowed up the sun, four allies stronger but temper frayed to tenuous shreds. Convincing the Links of his honesty had turned out to be the easy part—convincing them to follow his plan wound up being an entirely different flock of keese. A flock that was on fire and hyper-aggressive to boot, because nothing in his life was ever easy.

 _Wait, wait, wait. You're saying you'll die if Vaati does? If the Dark Mirror is destroyed?_

 _Yeah, that's not important. The point is you never have to fight Vaati at all, 'cause you gotta save your strength for Ganon. He's tough, got a lot of tricks—_

 _You're saying that's not important?! Shadow! You'll_ die! _And you're fine with that?_

 _Not like we've got a choice. Anyway, if you'd let me finish—_

 _No, there's got to be another way. We can't just kill you in good conscience if you're working with us!_

 _Oh, for Din's sake. Don't think like heroes for once and listen to me! The sooner you take down Vaati and Ganon, the sooner you free your precious Princess Zelda and Hyrule. Isn't that what you want?_

 _What about what_ you _want?_

 _...I want both Ganon and Vaati dead and burned to ash. Doesn't matter if I'm not there to see it._

 _Well, we're gonna do our best to make sure you can light the fires. Destroying the Dark Mirror is going to be a last resort._

Shadow squeezed his eyes shut, a frustrated snarl trapped soundless in his throat. He'd die either way, even if the Mirror wasn't destroyed. If Mirror didn't kill him, Ganon would, and chances were he'd come back anyway to go through the whole damned loop all over again.

Besides which, Shadow knew that no matter what happened, he wouldn't be getting out of this mess alive. He knew what he was getting into, was walking into it with his eyes wide open. Ganon needed to die, and for that to happen, Vaati needed to be removed. For _that_ to happen, the Dark Mirror needed to be destroyed. Shadow… well, he'd be a necessary piece of collateral damage. That was unavoidable.

Somehow, he knew, he'd have to make the Links see reason.

* * *

 _This,_ Shadow thought, _was not what I had in mind._

Aloud, he asked, "What in the _world_ are you all doing?"

Vio raised a brow and gave Shadow an arch look, chin propped up in the palm of his hand and elbow resting on his thigh. Ink stained the fingers of his other hand black, fresh enough to still glisten in the firelight. "Planning," he replied. "What does it look like?"

Shadow squinted at the papers strewn around the Links. Some had diagrams of what appeared to be a two-handled jar as others bore notes in quick, cramped writing. The rest—

"Wait, is that _Hyrule Castle?_ "

"Sure is." Blue reclined against a boulder, movements delicate as he picked strips of meat off a fish. "The artifact vaults, to be specific. You recognize those?"

"The general shape of them, yeah." Shadow had laid siege to the Castle too many times to count by this point, so he'd long since had its layout memorized. "What do want with that? All the really powerful things aren't kept in the Castle; they're sealed in temples across the kingdom. Don't you guys know that?"

Green leaned forward, indicating the pile of papers with the jar diagrams. "Of course we do, but power isn't what we need," he said. "We can figure out how to boost that ourselves. What we actually want is a template, an example piece."

"This," Vio continued, picking up where Green left off, "is the Gust Jar, something that belonged to the previous Hero. Among other things, it could... well, I suppose the best way to phrase it is that it could capture enemies within itself. Adapting that to capturing and then _sealing_ enemies gives us potential."

"The problem," Red chimed in, "is that the original Gust Jar is too small. So, to capture and seal Vaati, we'll have to build an entirely new one from scratch. The original will be a template to work off of while Vio figures out the enchantments and a useful weapon to have! Two keese with one stone, right?"

Shadow blinked. Looked at the diagrams. Looked at the maps. Looked at the Links, who… were actually serious about this. "Are you all _insane?_ "

Vio sighed. "You're on our side, Shadow," he said. "Even if the easiest way to defeat Vaati is to smash the Dark Mirror, we can't just kill you in cold blood. There must be another way, and if this is what it takes, so be it." A pause. "Now, are you willing to help get us back into the Castle or not?"

"... _Aargh._ " Shadow gave up and hopped into the air, sitting cross-legged as he gestured for Vio to hand him one of the Castle maps. "When I told you guys about the Mirror, this is _not_ what you were supposed to do with that information. Y'all know that, right?"

"We know," Red chirped, handing Shadow a roasted fish on a spit. "We just don't care. If you didn't want us to know, you shouldn't have told us!"

Shadow huffed, wishing he had a free hand so he could rub away the headache forming in his temples. Under his breath, he muttered, "Maybe next time, I won't."

Vio shot him a narrow look. "What was that?"

"Nothing, nothing." Shadow averted his gaze, pretending to study a map of the Castle vaults. "You people are insane, by the way. If you can even find someone to make this on the scale y'all are talking about, I'll eat my hat."

Thankfully, Vio dropped the subject. "Well," he said instead, "I suppose we'll just have to say 'we told you so,' then."

Shadow rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure."

* * *

A week later, Shadow found himself eating his words, though luckily not his hat.

"Goddesses above," he managed, staring at the enormous structure before him. "Y'all actually did it. I can't believe you actually did it." He paused. " _How_ did you do it?"

"The Left-Handed Hero called in some favors," Green replied with a grin. "May I present: the Sealing Jar."

The Jar stood at nearly half-again the Links' height and was large enough for one of them to lay flat at its widest point. Decorating it were eddying clouds and the suggestion of hurricanes, stylized tempests whirling. Magic whipped around the Jar like storm-winds, ozone on Shadow's tongue, a dizzying rush of unbridled strength that stole his breath away.

Vio leaned against its side, smirking. "Lucky for us, it shrinks for easier transport," he added when Shadow gave it a cautious poke. "Would be pretty useless otherwise. Told you so, by the way."

Shadow rolled his eyes. He floated up over the Jar and peered in, unease prickling down his spine as he came face to face with nothing more than an endless void. It unnerved him, felt a little too close to the space between time loops. Backing away, he opted to examine the tiny runes etched into the clay instead. "By the Three, how'd you find a potter this skilled? Much less one who just _happened_ to also owe you a favor? Getting the shape-changing spells to weave in with everything else, that's insanely hard…"

Fascinated despite himself, Shadow circled the Jar. He didn't dare reach inside, even if morbid curiosity made him sorely tempted. "Has it been tested yet?"

"It's a one-use only thing, so we couldn't," Blue told him, "but, hopefully, it works. The potter told us that previous versions went well, anyway."

"Comforting." Shadow mentally resigned himself to working through another loop, because this? This was going to go so, so badly. "Right, then. Let's work through the plan…"

* * *

Luring Vaati close enough for the Links to whip out the Sealing Jar and trap him hadn't been too difficult. Shadow had long ago found that the quickest way to gain Vaati's trust was flattery and subservience and lots of it, easy enough to fake. Vaati hadn't suspected a trap for a moment when Shadow called him though the Dark Mirror, and by the time he did, it was too late.

That was about where things went wrong.

The Jar served its purpose, a vacuum dragging Vaati in the moment he came near. The issue was that the entire debacle was _loud,_ Vaati's shrieks and the scream of hurricane-force winds tearing across the land for miles. The windows shattered, the Mirror shuddered in its frame, and the Tower itself groaned and rocked on its foundations. A storm rolled in, thunder and lightning and pitch-dark clouds, and Shadow really wished he'd had the foresight to bring earplugs.

(Next time. He'd keep that in mind for next time.)

Element of surprise thoroughly obliterated, Shadow made a split-second decision. "Help me move this thing!" he cried, lunging for the Jar. At the same time, he cursed the rules of magic that blocked its ability to shrink once it had anything sealed inside it.

Vio joined him, their combined strength enough to begin shifting the Jar ( _slow, slow, too slow_ ) across the floor. Words almost lost under a deafening bellow from outside, Vio shouted, "Where are we moving it _to?_ "

"The Mirror!" Stashing Vaati in the Dark World wouldn't stop Ganon from getting to him for long, but it would be better than nothing. Shadow, for one, wanted to delay testing the strength of the Jar's seal for as long as possible.

"It's not going to fit!" Blue yelled, even as he ran around to shove at it with the others.

"It'll fit!" Shadow yelled back. He broke away and darted to the Mirror, slapping a hand on the glass. Manipulating it was like swimming through tar, frustration boiling up his throat because Shadow _did not have time for this._ He snarled, slammed down iron bars of will and the Mirror began to stretch, reluctant and resentful but submitting nonetheless. It stopped the moment it became large enough for the Jar to squeeze through, but that was fine, that was good enough.

Drained, Shadow staggered back, doubled over, braced his hands on his knees as he caught his breath. To be honest, he'd only been half-sure that would work, but at least the gamble had paid off.

"Damn," Blue swore when the Jar disappeared into the Mirror. "How did you _do_ that?"

"Connection goes—goes both ways, to an extent," Shadow wheezed. "Now go, Zelda's still up there!"

Green faltered, indecision warring across his features. "What about you?"

Shadow stared at him. Was _that_ what he was worried about? _Seriously?_ "I'll catch up. _Go!_ "

Outside, Ganon roared again. Glass crunched beneath their feet, the sky fading as the gathering tempest blotted out the sun. Green set his jaw, then strode forward to clap a hand on Shadow's shoulder. "Stay safe," he said, and then the Links ran up the stairs to Zelda.

Shadow slumped against the Mirror. Several lacerations from flying glass sealed shut once he managed to draw strength from its dark energy, physical contact giving him a direct conduit. It wasn't much longer until he felt good as new, and even his clothes repaired themselves with wisps of materializing darkness.

 _Well,_ Shadow thought, turning to the open skies, _let's hope this wasn't all for nothing._

* * *

Skidding to a stop on the Tower's highest level, Shadow gaped up at the sheer, monstrous scale of Ganon's true form. Rarely throughout the loops did he live to see this point, this final, titanic battle between Ganon and the Links. Ganon hadn't noticed him, not yet, but he didn't doubt that would soon change.

The Links, meanwhile, had climbed atop Ganon's head and were in the process of battering away at him with their secondary weapons. Any exposed hide was as tough as armor, though; it didn't look as if they were able to do much damage. Red's usage of his fire-ice rod made sense, at least, but… Shadow couldn't fathom why the others weren't using their swords. Those blades were Force-imbued, _light_ -imbued; wouldn't they be far more effective? Even as Shadow watched, Ganon grasped at the back of his neck and nearly caught Green, who evaded only thanks to a well-timed burst of ice from Red.

Odd choices of weaponry aside, the Links needed help. Shadow prepared to leap into the fray, only—

At the edge of the platform, Zelda whirled, hair whipping about her face, the back of her hand glowing bright. "Shadow!" she cried, "you can make bombs, right?"

He stopped. Blinked. "I. Kinda? Can summon 'em from a pocket dimension—"

"Even better." She ran toward him, hand still glowing. "I need—"

One of Ganon's massive hands swiped down. Shadow lunged, a warning caught behind his teeth, but—

Zelda jerked back around, threw out her hands, and her entire form blazed like the sun.

A shriek tearing out of his throat, Shadow slammed his hands over his eyes in a futile attempt to lessen the burn and twisted to face away from the light. At least Ganon had been equally affected, recoiling with an identical shriek at a volume several orders of magnitude higher. When Shadow managed to look back, eyes watering, he was rewarded with the sight of Ganon clutching at a severely-burned hand with flesh turned black and peeling. The surrounding skin had turned a furious red, some portions seared right down to the bone.

 _By the Three,_ Shadow thought, dazed, _where was_ this _when she got captured?_

"Sorry!" Zelda's hands were on his shoulders, grabbing his elbows, hauling him up. "I didn't think—are you badly hurt?"

Rapid-fire blinking served to clear his vision exactly none. Shadow squinted at Zelda, her form blurred, his hands shaking. "I'm fine," he croaked, grateful that she didn't call him on the obvious lie. "How big?"

"What?"

"The _bomb,_ how big?"

Her eyes took on a steely glint. "As big as you can."

He took a breath. "Right, then. Stand back."

Technically, his pocket dimension was less a pocket dimension and more an in-between space, nestled between the worlds of Light and Dark. A threshold, sort of. Shadow thrived in that grey area, could slip into it easy as breathing—simple, then, to call what he needed.

 _The Big Bomb,_ he thought, a trickster's grin quicksilver across his face, and the greatest explosive he'd ever crafted materialized from the darkness.

Zelda craned her neck to look up at the giant explosive, eyes wide enough to show a perfect ring of white. "Well!" she said, "that'll do nicely. You can throw it, right?"

 _...Uh._

Shadow winced, arms already beginning to tremble from the magical strain as he kept the bomb suspended above them. "Not very far."

Mere feet away, Ganon slammed against the edge of the platform, stone crumbling to pieces. Shadow and Zelda both stumbled, almost falling to their knees before Vio managed to stab an arrow into one of Ganon's eyes to send him reeling back. Red took advantage of the distraction to strike a lance of ice into Ganon's other eye. Not to be outdone, Blue skidded down to Ganon's shoulder and slammed his hammer into the side of Ganon's jaw, knocking out several teeth. Green, on the other hand, elected to simply jam his boomerang into Ganon's ear and _twist._

Zelda, utterly unfazed, flexed her fingers. "Can you throw it as far as Ganon's face?"

"...I'll manage." Shadow tore his eyes away from the wonderful, wonderful carnage and hefted the bomb a little higher. "Now?"

"Not yet." Zelda's hands sparked, a mere candle against her earlier sunburst, but enough to make Shadow resist the urge to take a wary step back. "I apologize for this in advance, by the way."

With that, Zelda darted the rest of the way toward him, _reached—_ and her form once more erupted in a blaze of light.

Shadow forced himself to stay on his feet, digging in his heels against the liquid gold that poured from Zelda's Triforce piece into the bomb. He found himself glad he'd constructed it mostly the mundane way instead of conjuring it through magic—if it had been formed of shadows, like his smaller explosives, it definitely wouldn't have held up against the holy light using it as a physical shell. As it was, the abrupt magical instability the light caused was like red-hot needles against his bones, volatile as lightning in a bottle.

"Done!" Zelda cried, breaking away after what felt like an eternity had passed. "Throw it, straight ahead!"

Palms burning, Shadow reared back, took aim—

The resulting explosion turned his world into a brilliant, blinding gold.

* * *

 _Well. I'll admit, I didn't expect that particular outcome._

 _It worked, though, did it not? Have some mercy; he has done more than enough to live._

 _That, he has. Rest now, young Shadow—you have earned your happy ending._

* * *

 **Epilogue**

"Hey."

Shadow tipped his head back, grinning. "Hey. What'cha doin' here?"

Vio folded his legs beneath him, lowering himself with easy grace to sit cross-legged beside Shadow. "Looking for you," he replied. "Haven't seen you since this morning, and Father was wondering where you were."

Shrugging, Shadow waved his hand in a vague gesture. Leaning against the battlements of one of Hyrule Castle's towers, they could see what felt like half the kingdom sprawled out in rolling, verdant fields. "Around. It's pretty nice out; felt like too good of a day to stay cooped up inside."

"Fair enough." Vio followed his gaze to the sky, watching mist-soft clouds drift across an endless field of blue. Birds wheeled and dove, called to each other while the warmth of a spring's afternoon lulled them into a lazy, contented half-doze.

Shadow closed his eyes. Sunlight spilled over him like a blanket, slanting across his bare cheek. To be honest, it still felt strange to be able to do this, to be able to stand in the light for as long as he wanted without burning. At the same time, though, it was… freeing, remarkably so. He liked it.

Below, footsteps sounded, boots climbing ladder rungs with hollow thuds. A beat later, Green emerged from the ladder to the tower's roof, clambering out with a grin when he caught sight of them.

"There you guys are," he laughed, crossing to them in two quick strides. "We've been looking for you!"

"We?" Vio watched, amused, as Red's head popped up from the open hatch like a curious rabbit. He bounced over, Blue following a second behind with eyes squinted against the sudden brightness. Bringing up the rear was Zelda, who paused to close the tower's trapdoor behind her.

"Ah," Vio said, the edge of his lips tugging up. "I see."

"Wow, Shadow! Is this where you keep disappearing to? The view is awesome!" Red leaned against the edge of the battlements, one hand on his hat to keep it from flying away. "You can see all of Castle Town from here!"

"This _is_ a pretty cool view," Blue agreed. He rested his elbows on the stone next to Red, looking out over the kingdom. His hat, Shadow noted with no little humor, still had visible crease marks running along it. Looked like Blue hadn't found Shadow's hiding spot until recently.

Zelda laughed, tipping her head back to face the sky. Wind tugged at her hair, her skirts, the faint freckles across her face ever so slightly visible in the afternoon sun. "Wonderful weather today, too," she said, grinning wide when Green immediately agreed.

After a few moments, Red stepped back to plop himself down on Shadow's other side, close enough that their shoulders brushed. He smelled like horses and straw, probably from having spent the day in the stables. Shadow twitched a little at the contact, but didn't move away as he might have a few weeks previous. Green, settling down on Red's other side, grinned at him, while Blue just rolled his eyes and moved to sit down beside Green. Zelda, moving her skirts out of the way with a dainty sweep of her hands, placed herself beside Vio.

Shadow looked around at them all, brow inching toward his hairline. "What are y'all doing? Gonna take a nap right here or something?"

Green laughed. "I dunno, but now that you mention it, I'm tempted." He smiled up at the sky, gentle and serene. "It's a pretty peaceful day right now. We haven't had one of those in a long while."

…Well. Shadow couldn't refute that one.

With a dismissive noise, Shadow adjusted his posture a bit, the end of his hat curling smoke-like over his shoulder. "Whatever," he managed, tone flippant. "Do what you want."

"Don't mind if we do," Blue said, and tugged the brim of his hat down over his eyes. Then, one by one, Shadow watched in growing disbelief as all but Zelda _actually_ fell asleep.

(These people. So _trusting._ )

Shadow craned his neck to look down at where Red had his face pillowed on Shadow's shoulder, Vio leaning on the other as he dozed. Green was half-supported on Red's arm, Blue doing the same on his. Zelda's eyes crinkled at the corners in silent laughter, and Shadow—

With a helpless smile, he looked up at where a trio of birds chased each other to the horizon, bright feathers climbing for the sun. "If anyone's out there," he murmured under his breath, "I… thanks. For everything."

Wind sighed around him. The pure scent of an underground spring, then that of a campfire, brushed past his face. They felt like a benediction, like a blessing, like a prayer.

Shadow looked down and grinned. On the back of his hand, the Triforce pulsed a gleaming, sun-warm gold.

* * *

Theme Song (both for this fic and a cool Shadow Link song in general): Accidental Light by Sleeping At Last


End file.
